This invention relates to dense medium separation processes of the kind in which material to be beneficiated is passed with a dense medium suspension to a gravity separation step, e.g. in a cyclone, to give two fractions. One fraction is a suspension containing light particles from the material and some of the dense medium particles, while the other fraction is a suspension containing dense particles from the material and some medium particles.
The present invention is particularly concerned with methods of treating these two product fractions to separate medium particles from the constituent originating from the original material. The invention is also concerned with the overall treatment process.
The applicant has already proposed that each of the abovementioned two fractions be subjected to at least a single stage high relative density separation to form a secondary first fraction containing substantially only dense medium particles and a secondary second fraction containing the bulk of the other particles. The secondary second fraction may then be subjected to a recovery process, such as magnetic recovery, for the recovery of the remaining dense medium particles.